How Trump could spare Biden’s renewable energy credits and still cripple his landmark climate bill

Published

7 months ago

December 19, 2024

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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump smiles at the crowd during the National Guard Association of the United States’ 146th General Conference & Exhibition at Huntington Place Convention Center on Aug. 26, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan.

Emily Elconin | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The fate of President Joe Biden’s landmark climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, is in the hands of the incoming Republican-controlled White House, Senate and House of Representatives.

At the White House level, President-elect Donald Trump has already nominated three people to posts in his administration who are likely to be key to the future of the IRA, if they are confirmed by the Senate: hedge fund executive Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary, oilfield services company Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright to lead the Department of Energy, and at the Interior Department, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

Any full repeal of the IRA would have to be passed by both chambers of Congress, where Republican lawmakers so far have been reluctant to completely discredit the law’s benefits. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told CNBC in September that he would use “a scalpel and not a sledgehammer” on the IRA.

There’s a good reason for this approach: As of late October, roughly three quarters of the clean energy investments that have been made with IRA funds benefitted congressional districts that backed Trump in the 2020 presidential election, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the clean energy think tank Rhodium Group.

President Joe Biden signs The Inflation Reduction Act with (left to right) Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WV; Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY; House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-SC; Rep. Frank Pallone, D-NJ; and Rep. Kathy Catsor, D-FL, at the White House on Aug. 16, 2022.

Drew Angerer | Getty Images News | Getty Images

But what future Trump Cabinet members would do is also “pretty profoundly important” to the future of the massive legislation, said Tanuj Deora, a former director for clean energy at the Biden administration’s Office of the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer. The agencies hold considerable power over the interpretation and implementation of the IRA’s programs and incentives, like tax credits and business loans.

Renewable energy tax credits are likely safe

A priority for Republicans going into 2025 is extending the expiring provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Trump is looking to extend the tax cuts within his first 100 days in office next year.

This extension would cost $4.6 trillion over the 10-year budget window, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.

“In addition, Trump promised another seven to eight trillion in tax breaks during the last few weeks of the [presidential] campaign,” said Keith Martin, co-head of projects at the law and lobbying firm Norton Rose Fulbright.

The money for all this has to come from somewhere, however, and experts say provisions of the IRA are the most likely candidates for potential cost-savings. In an interview with the Financial Times last October, Bessent called the IRA “the Doomsday machine for the deficit,” suggesting that Trump could dismantle it to cut spending.

The IRA contains a range of targeted tax incentives designed to drive clean technology and energy production across the country.

Among them, the renewable energy tax credits, especially those for carbon capture technologies, domestic manufacturing and the green economy job transition are well-liked by Republicans, Martin said, and likely to be safe from any potential repeal efforts.

But the current phase-out dates for the IRA tax credits are likely to be accelerated, experts predict, and the Trump transition team is already in talks to completely dismantle a $7,500 consumer tax credit for electric vehicles.

Scott Bessent, who U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated to lead the U.S. Treasury Department, walks towards the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), on the day U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will ring the opening bell at NYSE to celebrate being named Time magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’, in New York City, New York, U.S., December 12, 2024.

Adam Gray | Reuters

Most of the final rules governing implementation of the IRA tax credits have either been finalized or are expected to be by the end of the year.

But there is still considerable fear that the remaining money could be rescinded, frozen or “awarded in ways that are aligned with a shift in priorities” in a new administration, said Julie McNamara, deputy policy director of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“Theoretically, a future Treasury could reverse course on interpretation and implementation, but that would take a long time and would need to be justifiable and defensible if challenged in the courts,” she added.

Business loan programs are in trouble

The more immediate concern, experts say, is the future of the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO), which provides financing for green projects. While Wright has yet to voice an opinion on the LPO, several Republicans have called for scaling it back or doing away with it altogether.

As of November, private companies were seeking more than $300 billion in funding applications from the LPO. Beneficiaries of the loan program have included Tesla, whose CEO Elon Musk is co-heading Trump’s outside advisory council, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

The Inflation Reduction Act expanded the LPO’s lending authority and eligibility requirements for projects.

“I think that a lot of the private sector is very concerned about the loan program,” said Claire Broido-Johnson, co-founder and president of Sunrock Distributed Generation, a financier and developer of commercial-scale solar projects. “Everybody’s trying to slam as many projects as they possibly can into this process before the administration changes.”

Liberty Oilfield Services CEO Chris Wright at Liberty January 17, 2018.

Andy Cross | Denver Post | Getty Images

An ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy

With the boom in AI data centers, domestic manufacturing and electrification, the U.S. is facing “a significant challenge in meeting a growing demand for energy,” said Frank Macchiarola, chief policy officer of the American Clean Power Association, which represents renewable energy interests in Washington.

This demand can only be met by an “all-of-the-above” energy policy, Martin says, especially if Trump is planning to reduce energy prices by 50% within his first year, as he promised.

Trump’s potential Cabinet officials in the energy space are consistent with that message, according to both Macchiarola and Deora.

“Burgum has a pretty clear track record in being supportive of all kinds of energy investment and given the very real need for more energy infrastructure of all types, it seems hard to imagine that somebody of his background and his business competence and his governance competence would try to suppress any reasonable technology from being deployed as quickly as possible,” Deora said.

Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump greets Governor of North Dakota Doug Burgum at a rally, in advance of the New Hampshire primary election in Laconia, New Hampshire, U.S. January 22, 2024.

Mike Segar | Reuters

North Dakota is one of the leading states in wind energy, utilizing the source for more than one-third of the state’s electricity.

As for Wright, although he has denied the existence of a climate crisis, he worked in the solar industry as well as oil and gas, according to Trump’s statement announcing his nomination.

“He’s not necessarily against any technology, he’s just going to be for certain technologies,” Deora said.

Ultimately, an all-of-the-above approach to energy would effectively defeat the purpose of climate policy, even though it might sound reassuring to sectors that would be negatively impacted by a targeted attack on renewables.

“Climate change isn’t about how many solar panels we put up. Climate change is how much carbon dioxide and methane that we do not admit,” said Deora.

“The concern isn’t about whether we keep business and keep solar developers happy. This is really about, are we going to produce more fossil fuels?”

Environment

California set to BAN Tesla sales, Vietnam leads the way, and VW value tanks

Published

1 hour ago

July 21, 2025

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California set to BAN Tesla sales, Vietnam leads the way, and VW value tanks

The State of California is moving to ban the sale of Tesla cars amid claims that the company and its CEO, Elon Musk, have misled buyers about the self-driving capabilities of their cars. We’ve also got market-leading news out of Vietnam and a pricey, pricey lesson for one VW ID.Buzz buyer on today’s lesson-learning episode of Quick Charge!

We also ask what this might mean for the recent Uber/Lucid autonomous taxi tie-up and go through a full rundown of the fastest depreciating EVs on the market (and yes, there are four Tesla models in the top 10 … because the Cybertruck was too new to qualify).

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New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (most weeks, anyway). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.

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Sunrun’s 37,000 home batteries are bailing out Puerto Rico’s grid

Published

2 hours ago

July 21, 2025

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Sunrun’s 37,000 home batteries are bailing out Puerto Rico’s grid

Sunrun residential solar battery storage — Image: Sunrun

Sunrun is putting tens of thousands of home batteries to work in Puerto Rico as the island’s electric grid faces a summer of high temperatures and energy shortfalls.

The company says it’s now dispatching energy from over 37,000 residential batteries to help grid operator LUMA keep the lights on. That stored power is being used to prevent rolling blackouts when demand spikes and centralized power plants can’t keep up.

Sunrun’s emergency power contribution has grown more than tenfold since last summer. LUMA expects more than 75 energy shortfall events between now and October, with each dispatch sending electricity to the grid for four consecutive hours. During several recent evenings, Sunrun and other virtual power plant (VPP) operators provided enough energy to offset a 50-megawatt generation gap, LUMA said.

Sunrun CEO Mary Powell said Puerto Rico’s aging infrastructure and intense weather patterns make home battery support increasingly critical:

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It’s going to be a very difficult summer, which is why Sunrun has ramped up our dispatch capabilities, using tens of thousands of home batteries to support the grid and people of Puerto Rico.

She added that distributed power plants like Sunrun’s serve the same role as natural gas peaker plants – offering fast, reliable power during high-demand moments – but with clean energy.

Sunrun customers enrolled in the VPP will get paid too. Each participating battery earns about $200 minimum for the season, and customers who allow more of their stored energy to go to the grid earn even more. Sunrun also earns revenue for operating the VPP.

The 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

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Volkswagen is practically giving away the ID.4 with leases as low as $99 a month

Published

3 hours ago

July 21, 2025

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Volkswagen is practically giving away the ID.4 with leases as low as a month

Volkswagen is advertising ID.4 leases starting at just $99 a month. It’s hard to find any car lease these days for under $100 a month, but for $45,000 electric SUV, it’s almost unheard of.

Volkswagen offers ID.4 leases as low as $99 a month

The Volkswagen ID.4 was the third top-selling EV in the US in January after the 2025 model year went back on sale.

Volkswagen’s electric SUV starts at $45,095 with an EPA-estimated driving range of 291 miles. It’s available in five different trims: Pro, AWD Pro, Pro S, AWD Pro S, and AWD Pro S Plus.

The base 2025 VW ID.4 Pro RWD is equipped with 282 hp from a single rear electric motor. Inside, it features a 12.9″ infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support, heated front seats, dual-zone climate control, and Volkswagen’s new ID.Cockpit digital instrument display.

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Upgrading to the AWD version will gain a tow hitch and an additional 53 hp, for a combined maximum of 335 hp. The added power comes at the cost of some range, with an EPA-estimated range of 263 miles.

Volkswagen-ID.4-lease-$99 — Volkswagen ID.4 (Source: Volkswagen)

Volkswagen was already offering 2025 ID.4 leases as low as $129 a month, but some dealers are listing it for even less this month.

A California dealership, Volkswagen of Garden Grove, has the 2025 ID.4 Pro RWD listed for lease at just $99 per month. The offer is for 24 months with $2,995 down. According to the dealer, the offer includes a $5,000 cash back bonus, good on a new ID.4 purchase or lease.

We thought the 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 was a good deal with leases starting at just $179 per month, but for $99, now that’s a steal.

Looking for deals on the Volkswagen ID.4 near you? You can use our link to find and view offers on the 2025 Volkswagen ID.4 in your area (via a trusted affiliate link)

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